Uff-Da Days

At last, my long searching has come to an end and I have found the answer to my lifelong question. The mystery is revealed, and the case is closed. Why do some women love to cook? Because behind their skill deciphering a recipe and prowess with a mixer is the hidden secret of their talent: a darling apron. All right, perhaps that's not the only reason. Maybe my mother cooked even when she didn't have an apron. It could be that she cooked for our family for all these years simply because she desires to serve God and family. That could be why she has made meals day in and day out for years now.

I suppose women like my Mom didn't always feel the delightful urge to "whip up a meal." It works out perfectly charmingly some evenings. I have everything on hand, chop up the veggies in advance, have plenty of cleared counter space, and pull the dish out of the oven at the perfect time, as if it were a breeze. Can it be more dreamlike? Probably not.

However, that meal was rather remarkable. No recipe confusion, missing ingredients, or messy kitchen to start out my venture, and I actually had a touch of makeup on. Other times something happens to at least diminish my plans that sounded quaint and simple at the beginning of the day. Or, if I do turn out with a good eat and clean kitchen, my disheveled hair, bare feet, and tired sigh show exactly what I went through to make it.

Perhaps life is similar. Every once in a while, things go just as I planned, the food turns out, the decision is successful, and all the time I've been feeling radiant to top it off.

More often, though, things don't go quite as I hoped: the meal was an experiment, I look more than a little lopsided, I make the wrong decision, have a poor attitude, or feel uncertain. In other words, there are "uff-da" days ("uff-da" is a Norwegian expression which roughly translates as "Oh, my!").

The Psalmist had more than his fair share of troubles a thousand times greater than mine, yet nearly every Psalm ends with a reminder to his own soul about the good faithfulness of God. To follow this example, I ought to give up to God my entire life, uff-da days and all.